Historic Walled Towns

Explore the cultural heritage legacy of surviving walled towns in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

United by Walls

Ireland and Britain are Europe’s two most northwesterly large islands. The present-day inhabitants of these islands have strong individual national identities, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English. However these  identities have emerged from within the forge of a shared history.  Walled towns are a legacy of that shared history, created as a defence against an oppressor, as instruments  of colonisation or simply as means of controlling trade and  levying taxation. Walled towns across Britain and Ireland are working together, sharing expertise in conservation, management and exploitation of these great monuments. Walls, once built to exclude and divide, are being revalued as a resource to provide welcome and celebration.